i have been frustrated by the sheer volume of churchplanting experts writing books lately. almost without exception these so called "experts" have started one church, yet they are determined to assign universal principals that are applicable to a multitude of situations. all this from a single experience...
if you are a young church planter let me give you some advice:
1. i don't want to read your book about church planting. i am only barely interested in your deep insights about the perils and pitfalls. one church plant does not necessarily a church planter make.
2. wait until you have planted 4 or 5 or 10 churches before you agree to go on the church planting lecture circuit. i have news for you - they are all vastly different. just because you were successful in one scenerio does not mean you can duplicate that. furthermore, and it is never talked about, what "worked" in one situation usually is a catastrophic failure in any other. i have done this more times than i care to mention and i still have no idea what i am doing. nothing pisses me off more than seeing your bio in the latest hip conference because you started a church on a christian college campus and grew to several hundred in the bible belt. i don't care if you fell ass-backward into an amazing situation in seattle. most churches do not get 400 people out just because they sent out an amazing flyer so get over yourself.
3. it's a god-thing. the best advertising, media, staff and parking lot attendants won't make any difference unless god decides to bless you. and frankly, who among us can predict where god will bless. which leads me to my final point...
4. just because your church is successful that doesn't mean you have any right to brag. some of the most highly skilled entrepreneurial planters in the world wash out because of reasons too numerous to mention. if your plant grows to a thousand it's because a) you live in the states or b) god decided to grow it for reasons known only to him. there are tons of great churches led by incredible leaders that will never be asked to speak at the 'flavor of the month' conference.
if you are a young church planter let me give you some advice:
1. i don't want to read your book about church planting. i am only barely interested in your deep insights about the perils and pitfalls. one church plant does not necessarily a church planter make.
2. wait until you have planted 4 or 5 or 10 churches before you agree to go on the church planting lecture circuit. i have news for you - they are all vastly different. just because you were successful in one scenerio does not mean you can duplicate that. furthermore, and it is never talked about, what "worked" in one situation usually is a catastrophic failure in any other. i have done this more times than i care to mention and i still have no idea what i am doing. nothing pisses me off more than seeing your bio in the latest hip conference because you started a church on a christian college campus and grew to several hundred in the bible belt. i don't care if you fell ass-backward into an amazing situation in seattle. most churches do not get 400 people out just because they sent out an amazing flyer so get over yourself.
3. it's a god-thing. the best advertising, media, staff and parking lot attendants won't make any difference unless god decides to bless you. and frankly, who among us can predict where god will bless. which leads me to my final point...
4. just because your church is successful that doesn't mean you have any right to brag. some of the most highly skilled entrepreneurial planters in the world wash out because of reasons too numerous to mention. if your plant grows to a thousand it's because a) you live in the states or b) god decided to grow it for reasons known only to him. there are tons of great churches led by incredible leaders that will never be asked to speak at the 'flavor of the month' conference.
Labels: church churchplanting
posted by Scott at 3/20/2007
3 Comments:
This is so hilarious... and so true!
Scott - I friggin' love it when you talk like one of the old guys in the balcony of The Muppet Show... hey, wait a second, I only planted one church... can we still be friends?
of course pernell, your "how to" book was a must read.
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